Wire stretcher



Dec. 26, 1939.

| c. BURNER WIRE STRETCHER 2 Sheets-Shet 1 Filed Oct. 30, 195'? Dec.-26, 1939. L. c. BURNER I 2,134,379

WIRE STRETCHER Filed Oct. 50, 19:57 2 Sheets-Sheet 2' Patented Dec. 26, 1939 WIRE STRETCHER Leonard G. Burner, Marshfield, Oreg.

' Application October 30,

3 Claims.

My invention relates to a wire stretcher having an open side thru which either a plain wire,

a cable, or a barbed wire strand may be entered between gripping members carried by a pair of heads adapted to be reciprocated, whereupon said Wire may be fed thru the stretcher continuously during the reciprocation of the heads.

The bulk of the wire stretchers now in use must be packed over considerable areas; therefor one of my objectives is to provide a-small device of very light weight.

Another object is to provide a stretcher thru which a plain smooth wire, a wire cable, or a barbed wire strand may be passed without changing the structure of said stretcher.

Another object is to provide a stretcher adapted to take up an unlimited amount of slack in the wire, cable, or barbed wire strand being worked upon. I

ed to take up an unlimited amount of slack without the necessity of changing holds.

Another object is to provide a stretcher which does not require the making of a hitch to or the application of a clamp or gripping device of any kind to the wire, cable, or barbed wire strand about to be worked upon.

Another object is to provide a stretcher which may take up any amount of slack without kinking, bending, or reeling up the wire, cable, or barbed wire strand being worked upon.

Another object is to provide a stretcher whose gripping members will automatically adjust themselves to any size wire, cable, or barbed wire strand that may be passed thru its open side.

Another object is to provide a stretcher in which a wire, cable, or barbed wire strand may be entered between the gripping members at any point in the length of said wire, cable, or strand.

Another object is to provide a stretcher in which the force applied for its operation may be considerably multiplied without making the device cumbersome or heavy.

A further object is to provide a stretcher that is efficient and durable, yet cheap as to cost.

I accomplish the objectives set forth in the stretcher shown in the drawings accompanying this specification.

Fig. 1 is a plan View of the stretcher; Fig. 2 is a side view; Fig. 3 is an end view without the pawl springs; Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view bearing uponthe operation cycle; Fig. 5 is an end view of a head having a funnel-form entrance aperture; Fig. 6 is a-section on the line 6--6 Another object is to provide a stretcher adapt- 1937, Serial No. 171,823

of Fig. 5; Fig. '7 is a section on the line l'-'l of Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is an end view showing a head straddling a base-plate; Fig. 9 is a side view showing the method of attaching an anchoring cable chain to the baseplate shown in Fig. 8.

Thruout the specification and the several drawings similar numerals refer to similar parts. Briefly the stretcher includes a base structure and a pair of heads confined to endwise movement upon the base structure, gripping members carried by each head and adapted to grip a smooth wire, a wire cable, or a barbed wire strand when moving in the direction of feed and release the same on opposite movement, and a lever arrangement adapted to reciprocate the heads, with one head moving in the direction of feed when the other is moving opposite thereto. The base-plate i illustrated in Figs. 1 to '7, is an elongated bar of rectangular cross section provided with a pair of lugs 2 which depend from the bottom face 3 at one end of the baseplate I. The lugs 2 are provided with a hole 4 to receive a rivet 5 which is passed thru the end link 6 of the cable chain 7 by means of which the stretcher may be attached to a fence post, for instance. As a means to facilitate the attachment, I provide at the other end of the chain 1, a grabhook (not shown). The grabhook and the method of using it is too well known to the users of wire stretchers to require further description or illustration.

On the top face 8 of the base-plate l, and extending thruout its length, is formed a guideway 9. In illustrating the guideway 9 in Figs. l to '7, I have made it of dovetail cross section 5 and have shown a dovetail slide it on the heads- H and [2 to match it. In Figs. 8 and 9, the heads II and I2 are shown formed to straddle the base-plate l. The heads H and I2 are shown formed as hollow rectangular shells comprising a bottom wall l3, a top wall M, a near side wall l5, 2, far side wall It, and end wall El, and an opposite end wall l8. This construction provides for spaced guides for the wire passing thru, and spaced A 5 supports iorfulcrum pins and springs, i1" coil springs as shown are used. In Figs. 1 to 'l, the heads H and H are confined to endwise movementon the base-plate 5 due to the engagement of the dovetail slide ill with the guideway 9. In Figs. 8 and 9, the method of confinement is V slightly dilierent.

Reciprocating movement of the heads H and lZ'upon the base-plate l is effected by a lever arrangement which comprises an operating lever I9 fulcrumed between its ends on the pin 20 positioned on the base-plate I intermediate its ends; a link 2| connecting the far end of the operating lever I9 with the lug 22 on the far side wall I6 of the head II; and a link 23 connecting the lug 24 on the near side wall I of the head I2 with the operating lever I9 on the handle end side of the fulcrum pin 26. By referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that when the handle 25 of the operating lever I9 is moved in one direction, the heads II and I2 are moved toward each other, and when it is moved in the opposite direction, they are moved away from one another. This feature bears heavily on what is to follow. It is also evident from a perusal of Fig. 1, that a force applied to the handle 25 of the operating lever I9 may be multiplied considerably without making the operating lever I9 unduly long.

On the top face of the bottom wall I3 of each of the heads I I and I2, is positioned a gripping member 26 secured to said bottom wall I3 by the screws 21. The gripping member 26 is flat topped and provided with the teeth 28 formed in its upper face and so that the teeth 28 are hooked in the direction of feed indicated in Figs. 1, 2, and 4. These teeth should be case hardened or heat-treated so that they may be both tough and too hard to be touched by a file.

Positioned over each gripping member 26 is a pawl 29 which serves as a pressure bar on the smooth wire, wire cable, or barbed wire strand being passed thru the stretcher. The cylindrical barrel 36 of the pawl 28 is provided with an eccentrically positioned hole 3I for the reception of the pin 32, supported by the side walls I5 and I6, which serves as a fulcrum for the pawl 29 so that the teeth 33, which I have provided in this instance, on the lower circumferential area of the barrel portion 30 of said pawl, may be lowered into contact or raised out of contact with, for instance, the wire 34 passing thru the stretcher. This lowering or raising operation may be effected manually thru the agency of the pawl arm 35 which extends thru the elongated slot 36 in the top wall I4 of its respective head, or, by the projection or barb 37 shown on the wire 34 in Fig. 4, passing thru the stretcher.

By referring to Figs. 2 and 4, it will be noted that the teeth 33 on the pawl 29 are formed with the hook against the direction of feed. Resistance to free movement of pawl 29 is effected, in this instance, thru the agency of the close-coiled spring 38, one end 39 of which is extended to bear upon the pawl arm 35. The pin 46 supported by the side walls I5 and I6 is provided to maintain the spring 38 in its relative position. The lower end of the pawl arm 35 merges into a circular flange portion 35A which in turn is eccentrically connected to one end of the barrel portion 36 of the pawl 29. By referring to Figs. 2, 3, and 4, it will be seen that the flanged portion 35A extends below the top of the teeth 28 on the gripping member 26 even when a wire of maximum size is passing thru the stretchersee Fig. 4, in particular. By referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that I have formed the bottom of the flange portion 35A with a relief 4| adjacent the gripping member 26 so that the flanged portion 35A may overhang said gripping portion 26 and thereby crowd a wire passing thru the stretcher away from the ends 28A of the teeth 28 and more to the center thereof, thereby protecting said ends.

The near side wall I5 is provided with a slot 42 thru which a wire 34 (see Fig. 7) may be passed sidewise for engagement with the gripping members 26 and their cooperating pressure bars, or in this instance, the toothed pawls 29, thus the wire 34 may be entered in the stretcher at any point in its length.

Again referring to Figs. 2, 3, and 4, it will be seen that the flange portion 35A serves to confine the wire 34 during its passage thru the stretcher by closing the slot 42. The slot 36 in the top wall I4 is formed to permit sufficient movement of the pawl arm 35 so that the bottom of its flange portion 35A may be raised above the top of the slot 42; and the gripping member 26 is formed and positioned so that the flanged portion 35A may extend below the top of the teeth 28 and the bottom of the slot 42 at all times while the wire 34 is being passed thru the stretcher.

To permit assembly of the particular design of stretcher shown in the drawings, I have cut out an opening 43 in the end wall I I suflicient to enter the pawl barrel 30. In Fig. 3, the end wall I8 is formed similar to the end wall II, but in Figs. 5 and 6, and 8, I have provided a funnel-form entrance aperture 44 with its large end 44A against the direction of feed. With this type of opening, barbs on wire passing thru the stretcher are deflected, if they should strike the edge of said opening or entrance aperture 44. In Figs. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8, I have rounded off the end 26A of the gripping member 26 to permit the barbs 3'! to more readily pass thru the stretcher.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view shown for the purpose of clarifying the operation of the stretcher. It is evident from Figs. 1 and 2, that movement of the heads II and I2 is simultaneous, and equal, since the stretcher is designed so that the movement of each head is equal. It is further evident that the gripping member 26 and the gripping pawl, carried by each head, moves with said head. In Fig. 4, a wire 34 is shown in position between the gripping members of each head, and each head midway between its extremes of travel (see position of the pawl fulcrum holes 3I). As shown in Fig. 4, the operating lever I9 would be in its central position. as shown in Fig. 1. When the handle 25 of the operating lever I9 is moved in the direction of feed, the heads II and I2 are moved toward each other, and as they move toward each other the head I2 moves in the direction of feed, and since the teeth 28 of its gripping member 26 are hooked in the direction of feed, they bite into the wire 34 and move it in the direction of feed. While the head I2 is moving in the direction of feed, the head I I moves in the opposite direction, and since the teeth 28 on its gripping member 26 are also hooked in the direction of feed, they back out of the bite instead of into it. When the handle 25 of the operating lever I9 is moved opposite to the direction of feed, the heads II and I2 are moved away from each other, but in so doing the head II moves in the direction of feed and hence the teeth 23 on its gripping member 26, because they are hooked in the direction of feed, bite into the wire 34 and move it in the direction of feed while the teeth 28 of the gripping member 26 of the head I2 back out of the bite and are moved back under the wire 34 but out of gripping engagement with it. From the above it will be seen that the wire 34 moves continuously thru the stretcher during the reciprocation of the heads II and I2. When the barb 31, shown in Fig. 4, contacts a pawl barrel 3!], the pawl barrel 30 is raised up to pass the barb 31, and is immediately returned after the passage of the barb 31 by the action of the spring 38 on the pawl arm 35. The ten dency of the teeth 33 on each pawl barrel 30, and the action of the spring 38 on the pawl arm 35, is to crowd the wire 34 against the respective gripping member 26, but the gripping power of the head traveling in the direction of feed is so great that the pawl barrel 30 readily adjusts itself .to conform to the contour of the wire-structure passing thru the stretcherit being evident that the pawl barrel 3!], carried by the head moving in the direction of feed, does not raise while it is being moved in that direction. I have described both of the heads H and I2 as being adapted to be reciprocated, it is very evident that only one of the heads needs to be so adapted if speed is not the important objective. The head II, for instance, may be fixed to'the base-plate in any suitable manner (none being shown) and so eliminate the link 2| and that portion of the lever l9 beyond the pin 20. However, I believe it preferable to fix the head on the feed-in side or the head [2. I find that with only one movable head much of the tendency of the stretcher to roll or twist is eliminated.

The design and arrangement of some parts of my stretcher may be varied considerably without departing from the basic idea and therefor I do not limit my invention to the exact stretcher described and illustrated but extend it to all that come fairly within the scope of the appended claims.

While What I claim as new in the wire stretcher art 1. In a wire stretcher the combination of a pair of heads adapted to be reciprocated,igripping members carried by each head comprising a fixed lower fiat-topped member having teeth hooked in the direction of feed and an eccentrically mounted upper pressure bar member having a v barrel portion provided with teethhooked against the direction of feed.

2. In a wire stretch-er the combination of a pair of heads at least one of which is adapted to be .reciprocated, gripping members carried by each head comprising a fixed lower fiat-topped member having teeth hooked in the direction of feed and an eccentrically mounted upper pressure bar member having a barrel portion providedwith teeth hooked against the direction of feed.

3. In a reciprocating-head type of wire stretcher the combinationof a head having a side wireentrance slot, a fixed lower flat-topped gripping member having teethhooked in the direction of feed, and an eccentricallysmounted upper 3 pressure bar member having a barrel portion provided with teeth hooked against the direction of feed and a flange adapted to act as a closure to the entrance slot and formed with portions overhanging the lower gripping member.

LEONARD c, BURNER. 

